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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




River, Bird and Star 



(third edition) 



BY 



AELLA GREENE, 



AUTHOR OF 

'IDVLS OF Freedom," and Other Poems. 



PUBLISHED IN IQOI, 



THE LIBRARY Obi 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

SEP. 3 1901 

C50PYRIGHT ENTRY 

CLASS (X^XXc. N« 
COPY B. 



'\ i 



Copyright, iqoi, 

BY 
AELLA GREENE. 



PRESS OF THE BRYANT PRINT 
FLORENCE, MASS. 



CONTENTS. 



Beyond: 

* 'WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY' 

"MORNING GILDS THE OTHER SIDE." 

THE COUNTRY OF THE GOOD. 

THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 

FORECASTING. 

A HEAVEN. 

SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. 

INTERCESSION. 

BURDEN BEARERS. 

YONDER. 

THERE. 

II. 

patriotic: 

MY NATIVE LAND. 

THE FORTY-SECOND. 

A soldier's GRAVE, 

THE SECOND. 

THE FLAG AT SANTIAGO. 

''ABIDES THE TRUTH FOREVER." 

"COERCE TO CIVILIZE." 

VICTORS VANQUISHED. 

THEM FILLERPEANS. 



III. 
Other poems: 

INTUITIONS. 

THE IDEAL. 

DEPRIVAL. 

VISION. 

''FOR A LOVE SO PURE."' 

A TRIBUTE. 

AT SCHOOL. 

WARRING. 

OUR FAITH IN MEN. 

BUDS UNFOLDING. 

''MOST BEAUTIFUL RIVER." 

THE QUEST THAT FAILS. 

THE EVIDENCE. 

A SONG OF CHENANGO. 

"O BEAUTIFUL VISION." 

THE HEAVENLY MUSIC. 

MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

THE EQUAL LOT. 

AMONG THE TREES. 

THE LESSON OF THE LILIES. 

THE BRIGHT BELIEF. 

^'GOOD-BYE, SWEET STARS." 



BEYOND 



•WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE 
THEIR COUNTRY." 



ABOVE the grandeur of the sunsets 
Which delight this early clime, 
And the splendors of the dawnings 

Breaking o'er the hills of time 
Is the richness of the radiance 
Of the land beyond the sun, 
Where the noble have their country 
When the work of life is done ! 



Speech cannot describe their heaven 

Nor hath earth such brightness known ; 
For that heaven is the country 

Of the Mighty and His Throne ! 
Man's brief furlongs canno: bound it, 

Nor his reason comprehend ; 
God alone counts all its headlands, 

And like Him it hath no end ! 



lo "where the noble have their country. 

Power almighty flows forever 

Round the wondrous land above, 
In its flood and ebbing constant 

To the everlasting love ; 
Chanting with the inatchless cadence 

Of a deep and boundless sea, 
To the continent of heaven. 

Anthems of eternity ! 

Heard on earth that mighty hymning, 

Which, if chanted near, were dread, 
Softening through the distance 
downward. 

Calms to equipoise instead, 
And ennobles with the courage 

That sublimity inspires, 
That defeat does not dishearten. 

That disaster only fires. 

There is music of the angels 

Drifting downward through the sky, 

Songs that give the faithful toilers 
Prelude of their joys on high — 



^'WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY. I 

Bursts of grandeur mellowing hither 

Until finer far than words 
And the sweetest of the carols 

Of the gladdest of the birds. 

Heavenly splendors were oppressive. 

Breaking full upon the sight ; 
Viewed afar, their rays inspirit 

With the excellence of might, 
With the valor that is patient 

In the trials of this life, 
With the patience that is valiant 

And triumphant in the strife. 

Though afar beyond the orbit 

Of remotest sun and star, 
Clear as light and free as ether 

The celestial splendors are — 
Glories cheering saints with visions 

Of the land to which they go 
And inspiring them with courage 

For the journey here below. 



12 "where the noble have their country. 

And the songs of heaven, though distant. 

Guide and quicken heroes here 
Till on earth they gain the graces 

Welcome in a higher sphere, 
Till ennobled into fitness 

For the things divinely fair, 
They ascend from earthly struggles 

To the consummations there ! 

Glorious songs and scenes of heaven ! 

Matchless wonders of the skies! 
Giving even here an earnest 

Of the far sublimities 
That illume and thrill the ages 

Of the land beyond the sun, 
Where the noble have their country 

When the work of life is done ! 

And on high the Spirit giveth 
Strength to hear the music there 

And the sight to gaze on grandeur 
That no mortal eyes would dare — 



*\VIIERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY. 13 

Even vision for the brightness 
Of the splendors of the clime 

With the fullness of the glory 
Of eternity sublime! 

Thus endowed and there forever 

Free from artifice of earth, 
The inhabitants of heaven, 

In its things of real worth, 
Read the wisdom of the Father 

From whose all-creating hand 
Are the beauties, and the glories. 

And the people of that land ! 

There they rightly read the visions 

Of the ancient seers that tell 
Of the wonderful possessions 

Where the glorified shall dwell, 
Of a better heaven than cities 

Though of gold and jasper made. 
Of a soul-delighting country 

Blessed with hillside, brook and shade. 



14 "where the noble have their country. 

There, magnificent with forests, 

Is that country of the skies, 
Far excelling in its birdsongs 

All the earthly minstrelsies. 
And that country hath its mountains 

And is resonant with streams 
That are sweeter in their music 

Than the rivers of our dreams ! 

Blooms of finest form and lustre, 

Fragrant on the eternal hills, 
With their odors bless the zephyrs, 

That, harmonious with the rills. 
Sing to give the angels pleasure 

And to welcome, there on high. 
The immortals from their struggles 

To the glories of the sky ! 

And those glories shall the problem 

Of this earthly life explain, 
All the bitter turn to sweetness. 

All the losses turn to gain. 



"where 'jhe noble have their country " 15 

And the rapture of the new life 
Far exceeds the griefs of this, 

And amid those scenes of splendor 
Even labor shall be bliss. 

Unto more than mere entrancements 

Are the seasons yonder given ; 
With the zest and joy of doing 

Thrill and glow the years of heaven. 
Fleaven a country where the faithful 

When the work of lite is done, 
Come to find in other labor 

Life and joy have just begun. 

There is heaven in grand endeavor; 

Even here it bringeth joy. 
O ! the ecstasy of action 

And the bliss of high employ 
Where the powers are all untrammelled 

And the soul can breathe the air 
Of the country of the spirit — 

O the joy of action there ! 



i6 "where the nqble have their country. 

There, however great the longing-, 

Still the heaven shall be more ! 
Longs the soul for wide exploring? 

There'll be vastness to explore I 
Is there wish for sweetest music? 

There'll be harmonies on hieh 
Far beyond imagination 

Of the people of the sky ! 

With the wish and eye for beauty 

Shall be rarest tints to see, 
Grouped in combinations painted 

Only in eternity, 
Where the limners live to study 

And for centuries have given 
Their ambitions to be perfect 

In the tracery of heaven I 

Are there temples in that country? 

They were builded on a plan 
That is simpler and is grander 

Than was ever drawn bv man. 



''where the noble have their country. 17 

Nay, those temples were not builded, 
But they came to form and size 

As developed other features 
Of the country of the skies. 

And the singers in those temples 

Hymning praises to their King 
Fill the science of the numbers 

Of the anthems that they sing 
With the potencies that make it 

Both inspiriting and strong, 
With the fervors that transform it 

From a science into song! 



There's the grandeur of the ages 
In the anthems that are sung, 

Yet the sweetness of a country 
Whose inhabitants are young — 

People breathing the elixir 
That to buoyancy inspires. 

Wakens hope and heartens courage 

. And to deeds of daring fires — 



i8 "where the noble have their country." 

Young because their land is varied, 

Young- from vigor of the air, 
A'nd because of joy's contagion 

Pouring ceaseless everywhere! 
Young and glad because of mountains ! 

'Tis in levels where we die — 
Health is oftenest where the hills are, 

In the earth and in the sky. 

Over all the undulations 

Of the lovely land of youth, 
0*er the hills and through the valleys 

Of the country of the truth. 
Floats the music of the singers 

Of the temples of the sky, 
In ascription of their tribute 

To the Majesty on high ! 

And, augmenting as it journeys. 

It commingles as it fares 
With the cadence of the numbers 

Of the chanting of the airs, 



"where the noble have their country." 19 

Which, around that country coursing 

In the joyousness of love, 
Give the ecstasy comporting 

With the dignity above. 

Blends the music of the temples 

In its journey through the land 
With the song of birds and rivers 

Chanting joy on every hand, 
Joy whose rhythmic flow shall never 

Through the ceaseless aeons cease I 
Song whose grandeur and whose 
sweetness 

Shall forevermore increase ! 

For such measures mortals have not 

Name or definition found. 
Nor hath science yet discovered 

The analysis or bound. 
O ! how tame all earthly hymning 

Even when but hint is given 
Of the marvels of the music 

Of the minstrelsy of heaven ! 



20 "WHERK THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY 

Land wherein maturest wisdom 

Glows with zest and joy of youth 
For the colors and proportions 

And the music of the truth- 
There the soul is ever growing 

In capacity for sight, 
And intensifies the vision 

Of the children of the light. 

Land where art attains perfection, 

Yet is true to nature's reign, 
Evermore of nature's wonders 

Chanting praises in her train ! 
Best of nature's wide dominion, 

Glorious land beyond the sun ! 
Where the noble have their country 

When the work of life is done ! 

Yet, a higher theme than heaven ! 

For the One of matchless worth, 
For the Savior of the sorrowing 

And the sinful of the earth. 



"where the noble have their country. 2 1 

With His mission here completed, 

Evermore abides above, 
Far outshining all the splendors 

Of the country of His love. 

To that country and its glories 

Come the faithful through His care. 
There to study and discover 

Ever brightening glories there. 
In that country of the Blessed 

Giveth He the work to do 
That shall keep the spirit growing 

And the charm of heaven new. 



And His name throughout the ages. 

As the aeons circle by, 
To the trend and to the cadence 

Of their own eternity. 
Shall be theme and inspiration 

In the land beyond the sun. 
Where the noble have their country 

When the work of life is done. 



MORNING GILDS THE OTHER 
SIDE." 



CONSTANT over death's dark river 
Shine the lustrous stars of love ; 
And, to cheer the good man, hover 

Angels missioned from above. 
Faith reveals to him the glories 

Of a land beyond the tide ; 
Though there's darkness on the river, 
Morning gilds the other side. 



Angels call him, and no demons 

Come to taunt with evil done. 
Or, insatiate in their hatred. 

Paint a heaven he might have won. 
Fearful still to ford the waters — 

Seem the dark waves mountain high ! 
For, whatever visions promise. 

Yet to die is still to die! 



''morning gilds the other side. 23 

Dreaded journey ! None escape it ! 

All must go, and go one way, 
Sometime go, and soon that sometime — 

None prevent it, none delay! 
And to each how dread those billows, 

Though they have been tried before; 
Chill and turbulent the torrent, 

And as far the other shore ! 

Cheerless journey! through a river 

Where no morning ever shone ! 
And the pilgrim that way faring 

Goes at midnight, goes alone ! 
Fares he at the break of morning. 

Seems it in a starless night ; 
Goes he in the gladsome summer, 

Seems it in November's blight. 

Other torrents he has forded 

In his travel hitherto. 
Streams so deep, and swift and wrathful 

Onlv brave men venture through. 



24 ''morning gilds the other side. 

Wild beasts haunting plains he traversed 
Tested oft the pilgrim's might ; 

Met he oft and foiled banditti 
Who had plotted sorry plight. 

Rugged straps his courage clambered, 

Deserts knew his blistered feet, 
Found he thornfield, flint and quicksand, 

Adverse winds and biting sleet. 
Yet there were some things to cheer him ; 

Birds enheartened with their song ; 
And, enlivened by their music, 

Buoyant was his step and strong. 

In the constant stars believing. 

And in Him who made them bright, 
Found the farer dreamless slumber 

Through the sweetness of the night. 
Birds awakened him at morning. 

Leading still the good man's way ; 
And oases of the barren 

Gave their brightness to the day. 



"morning gilds the other side, 25. 

Yet the pilgrim had his journey 

Through a robber-haunted land, 
Dread with tigers, torn with torrents — 

Wild, and bleak and thorny strand! 
Now he nears the final river, 

Airs grow dense, and damp, and chill; 
Birds once vanguard here turn backward, 

He must onward, onward still! 

On he fares — and why his calmness 

As the shadows round him close? 
Why invincible his courage 

To the waters that oppose? 
There's a hope that sings within him 

Of a land beyond the tide — 
Though there's darkness on the river, 

Morning gilds the other side ! 



Morn of brightness! morn of gladness I 
Morn of full revealing why 

All the hardness of the journey 
To the country of the sky ! 



26 "morning gilds the other side." 

Land of morning-, sweetened, brightened. 
Land of morning grown to noon, 

Land of springtime grown to summer — 
Land of everlasting June I 

Mountains welcome home the good man. 

Rivers give him greeting there, 
And the trees of life invite him 

To abundant fruitage fair. 
And beyond the opening glories 

Other, grander, summits rise, 
Heights that hint yet broader vastness, 

Drinking joy of lovelier skies. 

Here on earth the roses wither, 

But they ever bloom above; 
And forever there the lilies 

Breathe the sweetness of their love ! 
In the forest aisles of heaven 

Birds, and brooks, and zephyrs sing 
Of the beauty and the grandeur 

Of the country of the King! 



"morning gilds the other side.' 27 

And his angels there rejoicing 

So attune their hearts to song 
That the hills and valleys vibrate 

With the tide that thrills along. 
And the music of the numbers 

Of the minstrelsy on high 
Shall intensify and sweeten 

Through the ages of the sky I 

And from some bright summit yonder 

Where eternal splendors glow, 
Shall the good man view the region 

Of his struggles here below? 
O! the retrospect entrancing 

That awaits the glorified, 
Where, beyond death's darkened river, 

Morning gilds the other side I 

Through the chill and mirk of midnight. 
Through the darkness and alone, 

Fares a pilgrim toward a river 
Where no morning ever shone! 



28 "morning gilds the other side." 

Yet he looks beyond the shadows 

Where the radiant heights of heaven 

Shine with earnest of the glory 
That the faithful shall be given. 

At the river's marge he listens, 

And upon the other shore 
Voices chant of those gone thither 

Whom he knew on earth before. 
Wafted o'er the waves by zephyrs, 

Fragrant from celestial bowers. 
Seems the very music perfumed 

With the sweets of heavenly flowers. 

Constant over death's dark river 

Shine the lustrous stars of love, 
And to cheer the good man hover 

Aneels missioned from above ! 
Fares he onw^ard and emerges 

From the darkness and the tide. 
Where beyond the shadowy river. 

Morning gilds the other side I 



THE COUNTRY OF THE GOOD. 



OYE pilgrims through this province 
To the kingdom of the Lord, 
Fear not, though there is a river 

That your way-worn feet must ford. 
O ye pilgrims, dare those waters ! 

Journey bravely through the flood, 
For the trial of that fording 
Is the last one for the good ! 



Onward, pilgrims, though before you 

Flows the chilling tide of death ; 
For beyond it is the country 

Of eternal bloom and breath I 
Fear not, pilgrims, onward bravely. 

Onward through the icy fl(wd, 
For beyond that final fording 

Is the country of the good ! 



30 THE COUNTRY OF THE GOOD. 

And the Mighty will be with you, 

To uphold you with His arm : 
And no wave shall overwhelm you, 

Nor shall evil spirits harm. 
And the angels will be waiting 

To receive you from the flood 
To the bliss of heavenly morning 

In the country of the good ! 

There are youth and growth in heaven,. 

Youth grown wise and age grown 
young ; 
There the crowns rewarding crosses, 

There the sweet from bitter wrung ; 
There companionship of spirits. 

There the bliss of solitude ; 
O ! the joy of even thinking 

Of the country of the good ! 

And the joys of heaven shall heighten 
All the shining ages through ; 

Friends to friends will there be loyaU 
Souls to souls will there be true ; 



THROUGH THE SHADOWS. ^l 

For, O bliss beyond description! 

Souls by souls are understood, 
In the land beyond the fording, 

In the country of the good. 



THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 

THERE'S no sun to cheer the valley 
Where death's chilling waters flow ; 
And of coast and clime beyond it 
Those on this side do not know. 

Birds sing not above those waters ; 

There mysterious ravens chant. 
Giving neither name nor inkling 

Of the land beyond their haunt. 

Nothing grows by that cold river; 

And grew lily there or thorn. 
Would it hint of what is yonder — 

Boon or ban, or mirk or morn? 



32 THROUGH THE SHADOWS. 

Yet must all go through that darkness, 
Lighted by no cheering beam, 

Through the waters and the shadows 
That o'erhang the chilling stream. 

For no bridge o'erspans that river, 
Nor can mortals sail the wave ; 

Nor can science guide the farer, 
Or enhearten to be brave ; 

Nor can reason give the pilgrim 
Boatman, compass or a barque ; 

Yet by faith he gains the daring 
For the torrent and the dark. 

Faith inspirits him with visions 

Of the heaven of his quest. 
Of the land beyond the shadows. 

Of the country of the blest. 

And right onward to that heaven. 
Onward through the chilling stream, 

•Gladly, calmly, fares the pilgrim, 
Couraged by faith's cheering beam, 



FORECASTING. 33 

Onward to eternal splendors, 
Where majestic mountains rise 

In the radiance of the sunshine 
Of the country of the skies. 



FORECASTING. 

OTHOU who bravely up the path 
Which frequent thorn of trouble 
hath, 

Steadfast did try, 
If upward still thy courage climb. 
Thy patience shall attain in time 
The summit of the height sublime. 
From which thine eye, 



Unhindered by dense airs that blow 
To cloud morass of doubt below, 
Shall see fair ground 



34 FORECASTING. 

Beyond the waters flowing cold, 
A country which doth richness hold 
Excelling that the men of old 
At Eshcol found. 



Some time in exultation spent 
Shall intervene ere thy descent, 

At beck of sprite. 
Whose barge shall bear thee o'er the tide 
To land thy vision hath espied — 
Nor shall thou always there abide, 

Nor wish thou might. 



For, far from false and with the true, 
Thy youth renewed and vision new, 

Thou soon shalt be. 
To learn from features of that shore 
That they but prophesy of more 
And bid thine enterprise explore 

With ecstasy 



FORECASTING. 35 

New continents, and seas, and isles, 
Whereon such radiant solstice smiles, 

To cheer thy gaze 
That thou shalt think the brightest beams. 
The former gave, but faded gleams 
Of sunshine of forgotten dreams 

Of other days! 

That land attained, thy study there 
Shalt thee for further quest prepare, 

That shall allure ; 
And faring on, what thou shalt find 
Thy broadened and still growing mind 
Shall solve, assimilate and bind, 

And make secure. 

And it shall rare nutrition be, 
And spur, and stimulant, for thee, 

To aid thy will, 
That shall increase with thy desire. 
To this new good thou may'st aspire 
And may'st attain, to find yet higher, 

To beckon still ! 



36 FORECASTING. 

Inspiring faith! that paints the scene — 
A heaven of hills and valleys green, 

With songsters bright 
That sing responses to the call 
Of mellow murmuring waterfall ; 
And blue, benignant over all, 

A sky of light. 

Whose language is not only peace, 
But that which teaches an increase 

Of all that's heaven, 
In such gradations evermore 
As thou shalt inward from that shore 
The country of the blest explore, 

With blessing given. 

And, scanning copse and forest belt 
That through the years of heaven have felt 

The zephyrs' joy 
That sweeps the flower-scented plains 
Of that good land whose bliss explains 
Thine earthly lot, thou'lt hear the strains 

The birds employ. 



FORECASTING. 37 

And songs the airs and rivers sing-, 
To make the elysian valleys ring 

The ages through. 
And angels of the loftiest lyre, 
In joy that thou should'st thus aspire. 
Shall wake the strings to noblest fire 

They ever knew. 

O ! grandeur of the land that lies 
Away somewhere beyond the skies! 

Beyond earth's dream — 
How far beyond the visible 
Imagination cannot tell, 
Howe'er intensely it may dwell 

Upon the theme! 

Thou shalt have sail for broadest seas 
And time to solve all mysteries 

Thy search hath spied. 
Whatever thine ambition be, 
Thou shalt no limitation see ; 
Thy time is all eternity, 

Thy scope as wide ! 



A HEAVEN. 



WHEREVER bloom the happy isles 
In lasting verdure drest, 
Whereon perpetual morning smiles 
High welcome to the blest, 

No gilded barques bear any there ; 

Nor, borne o'er summer seas. 
Do any find the orchards fair 

Of the Hesperides. 

Wherever the elysium is, 

In what good land afar. 
And gained by what high ministries 

Of what benignant star. 

It is not reached along the way 
Where sirens charm the sea ; 

But seek, the warning angels say. 
Through Christ of Calvary, 



SIC n UR AD ASTRA. 39 

The kingdom of conditions high, 

Where quality hath rate, 
Where fitness, and not heraldry. 

Gives entrance through the gate. 

For what man is, not where he is. 

His heaven is, or hell ; 
His heaven the heavenly qualities 

That prompt his doing well. 

His heaven that high ennoblement 
That gives to whom 'tis given. 

The blessing of a heart content 
To win his way to heaven. 



SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. 

THOU selfish one who seekest heaven 
Through fear of final fire. 
And never had for heaven itself 
The first sincere desire. 



40 SIC ITUR AD ASTPA. 

Supreme unselfishness alone 

Can for the skies prepare, 
And he alone may hope for heaven 

Who loveth what is there. 

Thou asking God to grant the boon 

Tbou hast not tried to win, 
Beseeching His forgiving grace 

Yet never hating sin. 

And ever whining for the heaven 
Where only brave souls are — 

Wherever in the realms of space 
Revolves that happy star, 

The object of the good man's hope 

And goal of all his quest. 
Bright sphere of life, and growth, and joy 

And work that eiveth rest — 



ir>' 



That place of earth is nearest heaven 
Where the unselfish dwell, 

And where there is but selfishness 
There needs no other hell ! 



SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. 41 

And thou who deemest 'tis decreed 

By mandate of thy God, 
That thou be favored in His sight 

And spared the fateful rod, 

Which thou dost think is wholly right 

For those dfspised by thee, 
And therefore doomed by Him to wrath 

To all eternity, — 

It was a fratricide declared 

His brother not his care; 
And he alone is sure of heaven 

Who leads another there! 

Go thou, like Christ, and try to save 

Another than thyself ; 
For hoarding up salvation is 

As base as hoarding pelf! 

And when like His, thy life shall bless 

Thy suffering fellowmen. 
Then thou, for heaven canst hope, thyself. 

But art condemned till then! 



INTERCESSION 



SAINTS in heaven are ever praying; 
For the souls that struggle here, 
And the Father makes them answer 
That He holds His children dear, 
That He pities ihem and tempers 
For them all their varied woes, 
That for them His gracious spirit 
Through creation flows, 



Helping wearied ones to carry 

That which burdeneth the heart 
And inspiriting the nerveless 

To enact the hero's part 
And to gain, in fray appointed 

Unto all to meet in life, 
Wisdom, equipoise and prowess 

Equal to the strife. 



INTERCESSION. 43 

Saints in heaven are ever praying 

For the souls on earth who sigh ; 
And to answer them the Father 

Bids His swiftest angels fly 
Unto earth to seek the saddened, 

Not, perchance, to give relief, 
But to strengthen them to conquer 

Cruel fiends of grief. 



Glad the angels earthward hasten ! 

Thrill the spiritless with might, 
Till those timid at the outset 

Put their furious foes to flight, 
And enhearten so their comrades 

Unto valor in the fray 
That what seemed foredoomed disaster 

Crowns with joy the day ! 



BURDEN BEARERS. 

COURAGE! O ye burden bearers, 
Faring- upward to the skies! 
By the very weights ye carry 

To that country ye shall rise. 
Fare ye bravely, burden bearers, 

Fare ye bravely every day; 
Angels of that better country, 
Hither winging, guard the way, 



From marauding spirits vexing 

Pilgrims on the heavenward road ; 
And if burdens are too heavy. 

Angels aid to bear the load. 
And delight with their description 

Of the land beyond the skies. 
Courage ! O ye burden bearers. 

To that country ye shall rise ! 



YONDER. 



THERE'LL be glad reunions yonder 
Of those death has sundered here ; 
There again the light of faces 

That so many smiles endear! 
And the well-remembered voices 
That entranced the other days 
Shall be sweet in reminiscence 
Of the old familiar ways. 



Voices have new charms in heaven, 

But they still remain the same — 
Sweeter, dearer, for transition 

From the life from which they came, 
Yet enchanting with the accents 

That delighted days gone by 
And gave promise, thus, aforetime, 

Of their cadences on high. 



46 THERE. 

Faces there shall be remembered 

By the features known before, 
More of spirit there revealing, 

Radiant on the heavenly shore. 
Yet the same familiar faces 

By the earthly memories dear — 
Faces known and loved up yonder 

For the smiles they gave us here ! 



THERE. 

THERE no more the disappointments 
That dishearten mortals here; 
There no more the chill of sorrow 
Nor the haunting ghost of fear; 
There, above the misereres 

Of the years of dark and wrong, 
All the beauty and the grandeur 
Of the land of light and song! 



THERE. 47 

Land where flowers are ever blooming 

And the skies are ever bright, 
With a noontide new as morning 

And a day that has no night I 
There, through all the years of heaven, 

Birds, and airs and waters sing 
Cea'^eless songs of summer fullness, 

With the sweetness of the spring. 



There, and welcomed to the glories 

Of the consummations there, 
There how trivial seem the troubles 

That are given here to bear. 
There, and finding, when up yonder, 

That from struggles here below 
Came there growth and cometh longing 

Still to labor and to grow. 

There, with wish and power to study 

The magnificence on high ; 
There, with vision for the wonders 

Of the country of the sky ! 



48 THERE 

There, to find from every effort 
Power for nobler action springs; 

There, to find the best things leading 
Ever to still better things I 



There, and welcomed by the Highest 

To the wondrous land afar, 
Where the most enchanting rivers 

And the grandest mountains are! 
There, above the misereres 

Of the years of dark and wrong! 
There, amid the matchless glories 

Of the land of light and song ! 



'ATRIOTIC 
II. 



MY NATIVE LAND. 



GOD bless the land where I was born 
And played a happy child, 
Ere yet I saw a Southern swamp 
Or roamed a Western wild, 

And where, within the glens among 

The Massachusetts hills, 
My early being was attuned 

By cadence of the rills. 

O! could I be forgiven, did 

My heart not turn to thee 
With gratitude and pride, dear land. 

For all thou art to me — 

Thine atmosphere and scenery. 

Thy present and thy past, 
Thy people and thy freedom's wealth, 

To last while time shall last? 



^2 MY NATIVE LAND. 

And all along the coming years, 
Where'er my pathway lies, 

Whatever lot is meted out, 
Or kind or cold my skies, 

Still, evermore, my song, at home, 

Or on a foreign strand, 
Through life and at the closing hour 

(jod bless my native land ! 

And if the powers above shall grant 
The boon of heavenly rest, 

'Twill sweeten even that to know 
My native land is blessed. 



THE FORTY-SECOND. 



WHEN, erst the nation was besieged 
By armed rebellious foemen, 
And peace had fled, and skies were dark 

With every direful omen ; 
And Lincoln, from the capitol, 
For aid so wishful beckoned. 
Not least among the men to march 
The Bay wState's Forty-second ! 



Should Treason arm again her hosts 

To fill the land with trouble, 
Her deepest schemes of ill would prove 

An evanescent bubble ; 
For thinking of that thousand men 

Would waken others like them, 
To capture all the rebel guns 

And evermore to spike them. 



5 4 1HE FORTY-SECOND. 

That those remaining of that band 

May have the smiles of heaven, 
Hopes one who sends this offering 

In simple numbers given — 
Hopes one who deems it pleasant fame 

That he is welcome reckoned 
A member, in good standing, with 

The Bay State's Forty-Second. 



A SOLDIER'S GRAVE. 



A Christian, comrade, sen and friend 
Is slumbering neath this sod; 
His form is there, his name with us, 
His spirit with his God. 

Fit place it is for hero's grave. 
Where mountain zephyrs play. 

Where fair ones bring the choicest 
flowers 
And good men come to pray. 



To designate his sepulchre 
We raise this shaft, but trust 

His deeds shall live when monuments 
Are mouldered into dust. 



THE SECOND. 



NOW to the gallant Second let all 
give honor due — 
Our legion of the Bay State and of our 

country, too, 
As forward in their duty they go to fight 

our wars. 
And carry on to glory the standard of 
the stars ! 



They go to teach the tyrants the banner 
of the free 

Means hatred of oppression and meaneth 
victory ! 

The God of battles guide them and shield 
them everywhere. 

And watchful angels ever give their es- 
pecial care. 



THE SECOND. 57 

Inspire them for the conflict and give 

unerring aim, 
And honor still their colors, their country 

and their name. 
Now three times three for leader and all 

the gallant band, — 
The Second of the Bay State, — our legion 

of the land ! 



And once again sal ate them and ever 
give them cheer 

And teach the valiant legion the country 
holds them dear! 

And when the war is over may they re- 
turn again, 

Ennobled by the struggle — our good and 
gallant men ! 



THE FLAG AT SANTIAGO. 



THOU victor flag of flood and field 
In freedom's grandest wars, 
No freeman shall to tyrants yield 
The banner of the stars. 

Before thy folds shall despots quail, 
Though long enthroned in might, 

And bondmen freed thy splendors hail 
With raptures of delight. 

In equal or unequal fight. 

Wherever freemen dare, 
Thy presence shall inspire with might 

And lead to triumph there ! 

Yet more than war thy meaning is, 

Thy colors signify 
The calm of the eternities. 

The sweetness of the sky. 



THE FLAG AT SANTIAGO. 59 

At home thy lustre evermore 

Shall brighten and increase, 
Until shall shine to every shore 

Thy freedom, joy and peace — 

Till everywhere thy radiance shines, 

To honor truth and worth, 
Till faith unfettered builds her shrines 

In every land on earth. 



Thus shalt thou greater glory yield, 
Bright banner of the stars, 

Than trophies of the best fought field 
Of freedom's grandest wars ! 



'^ABIDES THE TRUTH FOREVER 



WHERE leads this thirst for 
enipire, 
This longing- for domain. 
This grasp for all the islands 
That all the seas contain? 

Where greed led erst the Roman, 

And Babylon the great, 
And all the men of conquest — 

Spare us, O God, their fate ! 

In dearth and desolation, 

Where triumphed once their greed, 
Their ruin so is written 

That he who runs may read ! 

Yet came no blight nor scourging 

By mandate of the skies, 
Nor thundered wrathful heaven 

At their atrocities. 



"abides the truth forever." 6t 

Their fate was no infliction, 

But grew from germs they sowed ; 

They came to their disaster 
By their own chosen road. 

Victorious they, but vanquished 
By what their sword had won ; 

Their downfall but the sequence 
Of deeds which they had done. 

Abides the truth forever, 

On every land and sea, 
When greed impels to conquest 

There's wreck in victory. 

And while but vain the triumph 

That selfishness may gain, 
Content is always empire 

And better than domain! 



COERCE TO CIVILIZE.' 



OYE pretending unto peace, 
While mad for gain ye tear the isles 
Of foreign tribes with war till Greed 
The curse of his approval smiles, 

Against your course the stars protest, 
Against your course, the heavenly blue, 

The beauty of the blooms of earth, 
And music of its rivers, too. 

Yet for you plead the blooming flowers. 
And for you plead the stars of heaven. 

That while ye have no pity shown. 
Your cruelties may be forgiven. 

There's warning in the chanting winds. 
The birds rebuke your selfishness; 

Yet, with the waters and the stars, 

They ask the skies your lives to bless. 



'^COERCE TO CIVILIZE." 63 

All nature speaks against your course ; 

Yet pleading with the powers above, 
All nature asks upon your lives 

The blessings of the heavenly love, 

And hopes that, through the potencies 
Of mercy's voice grown pentitent, 

Ye may give o'er your greed and seek 
To bless the lands your wars have rent. 

How vain that hope! For, deaf to heaven 
And scorning all that nature pleads, 

Ye summon once again your hosts, 
And as the thirst for conquest leads, 

Go bannered forth for selfish quest 
And tear the foreign isles again, 

Enacting scenes of wretchedness 
Abhorred of angels and of men ! 

Then to your temples ye resort. 

And there, dissembling to the skies, 

Ye ask the smiles of heaven upon 
The scourge of your atrocities ! 



64 ''coerce to civilize." 

In bold effrontery ye swear 
Your cruelties are graciousness 

And, all your enginery of hell 
Divine contrivances to bless ! 

Ye name your armies arguments 
In mercy sent of heaven to prove 

That ye coerce to civilize, 

And subjugate that ye may love! 

Ye claim that squadrons sweeping lands 
Of what their people treasure dear 

Are heavenly heralds to proclaim 
The dawn of the millennium near ! 

Ye men of blood, speaks not the past 

Of fallen despots of the Eld, 
Of monarchs by their might undone, 

Who once a world in terror held ! 

But deeper-dyed your guilt than theirs 
Who shook with war the other years 

And poured throughout the ancient lands 
A tide of carnage and of tears ! 



"COERCE TO CIVILIZE." 65 



For unto crimes exceeding those 
Of Herod and of Nero told 

Ye add hypocrisies beyond 

The shams of Pharisees of old 



To Heaven's command to build and bless 
Responding with the wars that rend 

The freedom-loving tribes whom ye 
Should foster, strengthen and defend ! 

Baptizing cruelty sublime 

And even naming cowards brave ! 
Professing love for freedom's cause, 

Yet busy digging freedom's grave ! 

Unmindful of the voiceful past 
And pathos of. the pleading stars. 

Will ye protract your cruelties 
Till ev^en the insatiate Mars, 

From gazing on the carnage turns 
To blush, and every friend decries 

Your crimes and angels call to earth 
Avenging armies of the skies! 



66 "coerce to civiltzk 

Though waiting long, the gods at last 
Shall come demanding blood for blood 

And from the burdened ages pour 
Upon your track a wrathful flood. 

To sweep your cities from the earih 
And blast to barrenness their plains, 

Until where once your grandeur ruled 
The hush of desolation reigns I 



God grant, O angel speaking, 
That this be not the truth, 

That yet the land prove loyal 
To visions of her youth, 

Repent her cruel warfare 

And, making prompt amends, 

Escape the dire disaster 
To which aggression tends. 



'coerce to civilize." 67 

God grant, thou warning angel, 

That yet, as in her youth, 
The country hear and follow 

Thy messages of truth. 

And heed the voices speaking 
From all the earth and skies, 

From all the tints of nature 
And all her harmonies. 

Demanding that the nation 

Give up the rule of might 
And act in high devotion 

To principles of right. 

And thus the country faithful 

To visions of her youth. 
Shall have once more the glory 

Of loyalty to truth. 



VICTORS VAXOUISHED. 



I. 

THE smaller the resistance 
The greater is the sin 
To war against the gentle; 
And if those warring win, 

The trophies of the victors 

May prove at last their scourge, 

The peans of their triumph 
The w^ailing of their dirge ! 

Although but few defenders 
Assemble to withstand 

Ambition's army marching 
To subjugate their land, 

'Tis purchasing disaster 
To war against the few — 

There's always retribution 
For what aggressors do. 



VICTORS VANQUISHED. 69 

II. 

If no opposing- angels 

Appear to drive them back 
And for a time they triumph, 

Yet fates are on their track ! 

Some nemesis of vengeance 

Their deeds shall overtake, 
And furies of their plunder 

Shall wretched havoc make. 

Though countries they have conquered 

Abound in golden mines, 
While on the hills and valleys 

Salubrious summer shines, 

And suns and showers awaken 

To verdure all the lands 
Till plenty's harvests gladden 

Even the desert sands, 

iVlthough balsamic forests 
Their pungent odors shed, 



70 



VICTORS VANQUISHED. 



And sing enchanting rivers 
From tireless fountains fed, 

Aggression's grasp shall wither 

To sand the fertile plain, 
Transform the gold to ashes 

And make the balsams bane. 

Confuse the rhythmic rivers 
And cjuench the joyous tide 

Till cease the birds to carol 
That gladdened by their side ! 

III. 

Though thousands crown the victors 
And trumpet forth their fame, 

Toiling to build them cities 

And towers to bear their name. 

While they and their decendants, 
Empurpled through the years, 

Shall wring from those subjected 
The tyrant's drink of tears. 



VICTORS VANQUISHED. 7 I 

Impending doom awaits them, 

A certainty of fate. 
By tardiness intenser, 

Augmenting if it wait. 

Belated retribution 

Increases by delay; 
Delays the day of judgment? 

More terrible the day! 

IV. 

Oppression long triumphant 

Ordains a gorgeous feast 
With all the sweets nectareous 

And sumptuous viands drest, 

Assembles all the harpers 

That all the realm can boast 

And decks the feast with diamonds 
From near and distant coast. 

The feasters laud their monarch 
And name his race divine. 



72 VICTORS VANQUISHED. 

Predicting- for the kingdom 
Successors from his line. 

Inflated by their praises, 

His majesty defies 
The enginery of heaven, 

The squadrons of the skies! 

Yet while his lords applaud him 
And toss the boastful lau-^h. 

A cup of wrath is filling 

The gods will make him quaft'. 

There, ominous above them, 
Remorseless on the wall, 

Are fateful fingers writing 
That tyranny must fall I 

In balances of justice 

Oppression has been weighed ! 
Threatens the sword of vengeance 

Descends the thirstinp; blade! 



VICTORS VANQUISHED. 73 



V. 



Full bannered hosts in waiting 
Commissioned by the fates 

Surround the festive city 

And thunder through the gates, 

Storm round the citadel 

That guards the mighty town, 

Capture the hoarded treasures, 
And tear the structure down, 

Burst through the sentries keeping 

The palace of the king 
Where courtiers speak his glory 

And minstrels rapturous sing ! 

Swift onward and exultant 

Through splendor's arches pour. 

And change the tide of revel 
To flood of human gore ! 

Wild pleads the king for mercy. 
But pleading is in vain — 



74 VICTORS VANQUISHED. 

Proclaim succeeding a<>-es 

That night the king was slain ! 

While weird w^inds gruesome murmur 
Where once his temples rose, 

And o'er their wasted ruins 
Oblivion's shadows close ! 

VI. 

Think not from ancient model 

This type of tyrant cast ; 
The Neros are not numbered 

Nor the Belshazzars passed I 

Think not alone in Egypt, 
Nor on the Chaldean plain, 

Nor in the other countries 
Where tyrants used to reign. 

There was and is oppression : 
But modern lands and times 

Afford recurrent copies 
Of old tyrannic crimes! 



VICTORS VANQUISHED. 75 

And mark ye well, aggressors, 
The few are sometimes strong! 

And when they go escutcheoned 
Aeainst the hosts of wrono;, 

The skies will give them triumph 
Till shake their foes with fears 

Inviting the derision 
Of all the after years. 

And if aggression conquers 

The few who dare withstand 
The armies greed dispatches 

To subjugate their land. 

The trophies of the victors 

May prove a thorn and scourge. 

The peans of their glory 
The wailing of their dirge I 



THEM FILLERPEANS. 



DEWEY went a sailin' once 
In waters far an' foreign, 
And carried cannon on his fleet 
Orl planted right fer warrin', 
An' spyin' Spanyuds in their ships 

Araoun' erbaout ^lanila, 
He thort tew captur them by ways 
Th'n death or meetin' stiller. 



A-knowin' thet orl Spanish folks 

At craftiness air pizen, 
He sailed nigh tew them dons afore 

Thay ware from slumber risin'. 
An' them air fellers didn't dream 

Whut trouble was a-brewin', 
An' only faoun' aout, when 'twuz done, 

What Dewey had been dewin' ! 



THEM FILLERPEANS. 77 

At once his tars began tew pla}^ 

A tune thet shook ther oshun 
An' raoused them Spanyuds from their 
sleep 

An' filled 'em with kummoshun. 
An' 'twan't fer long upon them dons 

Thet music was a-tellin' 
Afore they struck their colors, corz 

Thet song was so compellin'. 

So Dewey took thet Spanish fleet 

An' wuz completely victor, 
A-dewin' orl the biziness up 

Ez charmin' ez a pictur. 
Then he an' Merritt took a taoun 

An' ilun's nigh it lyin' 
An' set aour flag a-fioatin' whare 

Another hed ben fly in'. 

I rewl thet's good ez enny writ 

Erbaout the art o' warrin', 
An' hoi's fer places nigh tew hum 

An' kentries thet are foreign— 



78 THEM FILLERPEANS. 

When thare air foes tew war erofinst 
Don't give 'em enny warnin', 

But dew 'em up ez Dewey did. 
Afore the break o' mornin' ! 



Uv course, we folks air gwineter praise 

The man thet werked the noshun 
Uv takin' ships, an' taouns, an' forts, 

An' islun's uv ther oshun ; 
But air thare not sum paourful risks 

Aour nashun air a-runnin' 
Becorz aour nimble sailor man 

x\t warrin' wuz so kunnin'? 



Thet wuz a gallant feat o' biz, 

A proper smart proceedin' ; 
It won fer us a elephant — 

But ken we do ther feedin"? 
x\n' is't aour misshun in the v/orl' 

Tew go araoun' a-showin' 
The annermuls, an' snaix an' sich 

Thet other lan's air growin'? 



THEM FILLERPEANS. 7-9 

An' if them islun's we ken keep 

Still, is it best tew hoi' 'em? 
Espeshurly ez sum will say 

Aotir Dewey went an' stole 'em? 
'Tware better far a-strengthenin' stakes 

Araoun' aour hum persesshuns 
Th'n takin' thet fer which, sum time, 

We'll havcter make confesshuns. 

An' 'tisn't things a nashun hez 

Thet makes her less er greater; 
But, fust, it's haou she got the truck, 

An' then whut is their natur'. 
When gunnin' 'tisn't orl the shots 

Thet caounts, but shots thet's hittin' 
An', nuther, is it that erlone, 

But what's the burds they're gittin'? 

An', then, ergin, it's wrong tew shute 
The burds thet's good at singin', 

An' roamin' raoun', sum gunners find 
What's mighty peert at stingin' I 



8o 'J HEM FILLERPEANS. 

An' ain't them islun's an' their tribes 
Hot honnets tew tne claspin'? 

An' ain't thare orlus stings tew thet 
Which greediness airgraspin'? 

'Twar thus uv ol', an' naou 'tis trew — 

The past an' present prcachin' — 
Air givin' warnin's orl the time 

Thet's clear tew bimeby reachin', 
A-tellin' thet thare's orlus good 

Fer them in right ways keepin', 
An' thet accordin's whut is sowed 

Thare's tares er wheat fer reapin' ! 

But rises sum tew advercate 

The misshunary noshun 
Uv christianizin' tribes upon 

Them islun's of ther oshun. 
Jess let 'em pruve their doctrine trew 

By startin' fer Manila; 
An' leastways give besides their tork 

Their sanction by their siller! 



THEM FILLERPEANS Si 

In argerin' a pint 'tis strange 

Haou pious sum folks dew be ! 
An' ain't thare work enuff fer them 

In Portereek an' Kuby? 
An' is this Ian' so good thet they 

Vamoose araoun' creashun 
Tew hunt fer foreign tribes tew save 

Frum hethen degrerdashun? 

When in aour kentry blacks abaoun' 

Whut never hearn much preachin', 
When yellar tribes hev sought this Ian' 

Thet sorely need sum teachin', 
When here the Injuns hardly lit 

The misshunary noshun, 
Why hunt fer other fields beyon* 

The Asherattic oshun? 

Ye know ye grabbed them Fillerpeans 
Tew make yewer kentry bigger, 

An' soester give yerselves a chance 
Afore the worl' tew figger 



82 THEM FILLERPEANS. 

Ez turnin' hither commerce thet 
Should bring the kentry millions — 

The while, uv course, it brort tew yew 
Sum insurdentul billions! 

So, fellers, own up straight an' trew 

Thet ackshuns pruve yew're greedy, 
An' don't preten' your objec' is 

Befriendin' uv ther needy, 
Nor tell erbaout ther islunds whare 

Your prairs an' teers air given 
Far edderkatin' ignorance 

An' fittin' souls fer heaven ! 

Instid, yew akt ez if yew thort 

'Twar bony fidy pertain 
Thetpaours erbuv kermisshun yew 

Them hethen fer convertin'. 
Yew keep ex-preachers , raoun' tew poze 

Ez if thay ware a-pleadin' 
Fer chance tew teach them hethen tribes 

In richussniss an' readin' ! 



THEM FILLERPEANS. 83 

Go corl them back from Ceylon's isle 

An' Greenlun's icy mountains, 
An' frum ther joy o' watchin' san's 

In Africk's sunny fountains ; 
Go hasten them frum Injy's stran' 

An' frum ther Ganges River, 
Tew help yew grab them Fillerpeans 

An' tew yewer paour deliver. 

Them tribes whut have a right to rewl 

Their islun's tew their wishin' 
An' right tew drive yew fellers orf 

Thet's fer them islun's fishin' ! 
Pretendin' just tew seek them tribes 

Becorz you wanter bless 'em, 
Still grabbin' uv their lan's thet yew 

May selfishly persess 'em ! 

Thare air no vartewz but yew klaim 
Attaches tew yewer misshun — 

Religion, morrills, learnin', an' 

Tew heven ther prime condisshun, 



84 THEM FILLERPEANS. 

Admittin' yew tew kingdom kum 
An' seats thet air the highest, 

Tew plaises waitin' thare fer yew 
Thet's tew attrackshuns nighest. 

Haou smart them preachers uv yourn 
tork 

Erbaout ther nobul corlin' 
Uv savin' uv them hethen ones 

Frum ferder still a-forlin', 
In degrerdashun uv their sins 

An' raouzin' them an' waikin' 
Untew a proper sens until, 

Their hethen waze forsaikin', 

Thay rize tew shaout in praiziz high 

An' giv their best hozanner 
At sight uv thet ol' flag thet naou 

Air sech a gospil banner 
Thet former things air dun erway 

An' glow uv bimeby's dawnin', 
Foretellin' thet air kummin' on 

Ther bright millenyul mornin'. 



THEM FILLERPEANS. 85 

Ther daze ther prophits saw shell kum 

With sech exceedin' glory 
Ez far outshinez ther times fortelled 

In their ecstatic story! 
Them Fillerpeans shell blewm with 
peace 

An' threw their pleasant borderz 
Shell plenty waiv in airz thet waft 

Erway orl base disorderz. 

Then Malay boys shell talk on kloze, 

An' longin' fer sum skewlin', 
Quit pitchin" quaitz with monkey lads 

An' orl sech kind o' fewlin', 
Devotin' time like little saintz 

Tew masterin' their reederz, 
Until thay're fit at last tew serve 

Their kentry ez it's leaderz. 

An' Malay chiefs, grown tew survanz, 
Shell fin' their okkurpashun 

Addressin' uv their fellow-men 
In poUisht konversashun 



86 THEM FILLERPEANS. 

On ethicks an' upon the artz 

An' scientific knowlidge 
Till flurrish on them hethen isles 

The church, an' skewl, an' koUidge. 

Amerikanz an' English tew 

Shall thither go fer lernin', 
Ther klassicks horls uv their own lan's 

Fer better ones a-spurnin'. 
An' blessin' uv them fewtewr daze, 

Shall yewer idees be saounded 
Frum temples in them islun's thet 

Yew fellers thare have faounded. 

They'll turn ther tide uv progriss back 

Thet westwuds hez been rushin', 
Till other leaderz haste tew yew 

An' in konfushun blushin', 
Proklaim yew wunderz uv the earth 

An' time's sublimest sages 
Fer findin' in them Fillerpeans 

Ther misshun uv ther ages ! 



THEM FILLERPEANS. 87 

Meanwhile yew feed the Yankee pride 

By chantin' Dewey's glory, 
Recountin' uv his gallant deeds 

An' tellin' uv the story, 
Erbaout the spots o' graoun' the tar 

Acquired when he wuz sailin' 
Eraoun' thet arkerpellergo. 

Tew give them dons a whalin'. 

They've ben sech tyrantz orl their daze, 

Their subjec' peoples crushin' 
A-dewin' it afore the worl' 

Erthaout a thort o' blushin', 
Thet thay desurve the bloze reseeved. 

Their pride tew pieces dashin' ; 
An' 'twuz a werk o' richussniss 

Tew give them dons a thrashin'. 



While wrong fer dons tew tyrannize, 
Yewer rod air sech a blessin' 

The tribes yew subjugait should kum 
Their thanks tew yew confessin', 



88 THEM FILLERPEANS. 

Approve at once the akt by which 
Tew yew the Spanyud sells 'em 

An' then like little boys obey 
What Uncle Samuel tells 'em. 

Yew hipperkritz, athirst fer paour, 

Proklaim the starz ordainin' 
Thet yew should hev them Fillerpeans 

O'er which tew be a-reignin', 
Thet yew should flaunt yewer purpul 
thare, 

Tew maik their people wonder 
An' hev sum sojers sent frum here 

Tew keep the hethen under — 

So'st while thay're mournin' uv their sins 

An' learnin' uv their letters, 
Yew'll teach the saim tew hear and heed 

The diktum uv their betters, 
Ez well bekums the motly horde, 

Thet on them isles air dwellerz, 
Them nondeskript an' savage tribes, 

The Fillerpean fellers ! 



THEM FILLERPEANS. 89 

But don't fergit they helped yewer war; 

An' will yew turn ergin 'em? 
Remember thet in aidin' yew 

They've shown thare's bezum in 'em. 
Thay may be iiethen, but thay're not 

A-feared uv thoze erbuv 'em ; 
Nor air thay orl the blewmin fewls 

Tew 'spose yew fellers luv 'em ! 

Naou if yew'erwhut yewer banner reads, 

The foes uv orl oppressors, 
Go drive them Spanyuds aout and let 

The natives be perssessors, 
Uv them air islun's whare they live 

An' right tew which thay're given 
By license uv ordainin' starz 

An' 'portionment frum heven ! 

Sech klaims ez thet go ferder back 
Than thet whut dons air tradin' 

Erway tew yew, tew give yew right 
Tew follow their invadin' ! 



•90 THEM FILLERPEANS 

Thay're robbers, an' yew know it, tew, 
Yet, strong tew drive or stay 'em, 

Yew promise them "■ 'pon honor bright' 
Fer whut they stole tew pay 'em ! 

Yew hipperkritz ! frum vorltin' kum 

Tew whare sum air abidin' 
Who think thet yew hev long ernuff 

In selfishness been stridin'. 
Thoze saim don't think thet orlus orl 

Air hethen, corz thay're foreign. 
Nor think it best tew keep the spoils 

Thet victors git a-warrin', 

Thay'll jine yew prazin' uv yewer tar 

An' emphursize his glory, 
An' yit thay think thare air tew sides 

Mo^t orlus tew a story, 
An' think thare air sum paourful risks 

Aaour nashun air a-runnin'. 
Tew keep the lan's the sailor took 

When showin' orf his ktinnin' ! 



OTHER POEMS 



INTUITIONS. 

FOLLOW thine intuitions, 
They always lead thee right 
In all of thine ambitions 
Obey the inner light. 

Whatever to thy vision 
Seems duty, bravely do, 

Albeit fierce derision 

The doing leads thee through. 

And when of ease Elysian 
Appears alluring view, 

Then quick to the monition 
Thou hear'st within be true. 

Intensify decision 

To follow still the right ; 
Go onward to thy mission, 

With vigilance and might. 



9 4 THE IDEAL 

Thus heeded, intuitions 

Shall ever lead thee right- 
To crowns for the ambitions 
True to the inner light. 



THE IDEAL. 



REDUCE to fact your fancy 
Nor tarry till you do 
Make real the ideal, 

That God has given you. 



Most real the ideal, 

Least fact what most call fact 
And of ideal most real, 

Ideal in an act. 



DEPRIVAL. 



THOIKtH they aspire for g:ood to 
come, 
Still holds for them the truth, 
Their choicest boon is gone who spurn 
Ideals of their youth. 

Though robins singing once for them 
Have not their songs forgot, 

They only sing of bliss that was, 
To say that now 'tis not. 

To souls thus saddened every bird 

Is always singing wrong, 
And out of tune is every voice 

Of nature's wondrous song, 

While zephyrs perfumed with the breath 

Of lilies that they greet 
But serve to tell embittered hearts 

Of life that once was sweet. 



DEPRIVAL. 



'Tis true there are some souls that sing 

In spite of wolfish grief, 
And, drinking deeply of despairs, 

Proclaim the elad belief 



to' 



That there's no ill that man is given 

But he can subjugate, 
That he can gain by every loss 

And conciuer every fate. 

And yet from glad and gruesome birds 
And all the winds the truth 

That ever after broken are 
Ideals wrecked in youth. 



VISION. 



' "T^IS vision gives to life its charm ; 

1 Without it dies the soul ; 
O mortal, heed the vision given 

And joy in its control. 

Wherever bids the vision, go. 

And promptly, gladly fare ; 
What place it bids thee enter not,— 

Refrain from going there, 

Though seems that place a garden sweet 

And beautiful with flowers. 
And frequented by visitants 

From the celestial bowers. 

There sirens -they who angels seem 

And like the angels sing; 
And baneful there were breath and bloom 

And minstrelsy of spring. 



98 VISION. 

Where is no vision, perish all, 

Though Ceres there should spread 

Her affluent harvest round, to give 
To man abundant bread ; 

While they who, heeding visions, go 
Where seems a barren strand 

Have found, instead, to cheer their sight, 
A most delightsome land, 

Where thornless roses ever bloomed 

And purpling clusters hung 
Along alluvial vales wherein 

Rejoicing rivers sung. 

There robins caroled of the sweets 

Ambrosial airs afford, 
And larks were joyous o'er the wealth 

From heaven's abundance poured, 

While birds and bloom inspired the day 
To charm the hours of night 

So each successive morning broke 
With finer splendors bright. 



"FOR A LOVE SO PURE AND A 
LOVE SO RARE." 

FOR a love so pure and a love so rare 
That it must have come from heaven, 
May the kindest smiles of the brightest 
stars 
And of cloudless skies be given — 

And the sweetest breath of the loveliest 
blooms, 

And the best and rarest tune 
That was ever by lark or robin poured 

Through the joyousness of June. 

A TRIBUTE. 

THOU friend in that believing 
Which unto me is dear. 
Thy constancy of kindness 
Brings consummation near. 
L.ofC. 



lOO AT SCHOOL. 

Thou friend so quick to honor, 

When others doubt and sneer 
For thee their hate forgiving-, 

For what thou art to me 
I thank the Heavenly Father, 

And pray His hand for thee 
In guidance and upholding 

Forevermore to be — 
His blessing here, the earnest 

Of heaven's felicitv 1 



AT SCHOOL. 

AFFLICTION is the school wherein 
Gains character new power, 
And excellence, by fighting sin. 
Wins an abundant dower. 



WARRING. 

WHO wars for right, hope well 
befits ; 
To him the stars are true ; 
For him there's always Austerlitz, 
And never Waterloo ! 



OUR FAITH IN MEN. 

ENNOBLING is our faith in men 
It lifts us from the dust, 
And what we trust a man to be, 
We make the man we trust. 



BUDS UNFOLDING. 

CHILD entranced o'er buds unfolding, 
Thou art blossoming as well ; 
Child delighted with their beauty. 
May their bloom thy future tell. 



MOST BEAUTIFUL RIVER." 



MOvST beautiful river of all that have 
sung 
S i n ce m u s i c a f ( ) re t i ni e i n 1 C d e d \v a s y ( ) u n g , 
Thy waters, though charming, have 

cadence of grief. 
And, chanting of trouble that finds no 

relief, 
Speak under the joy of the notes of the 



That somewhere the key-note of being is 

wrong, 
That somewhere far back in the course of 

the llight 
Of things which the First Cause designed 

to go right. 
Some tired of their orbit and went from 

the way, 
Persisting thenceforward still farther to 

stray, 



"xMOST BEAUTIFUL RIVER. TO3 

Till, stranded in wandering- and dark 

with the gloom 
Of the wreck of the wayward, they shook 

with their doom ! 



Thou river that singest the joy of a clime 
Of Eden-like sweetness of earlier time. 
Thou river that singest the first bliss of 

man. 
That blessing was only precursor of ban! 
And driven from Eden and vagrant o'er 

earth, 
Man, sighing for solace and seeking for 

worth, 
Found little good fruitage, but vastness 

of dearth. 
Blio-ht found he for wheat-fields, and 

crows for the corn ; 
Found frost blasting roses but pointing 

the thorn ; 
In all fields found nightshade, or thistles, 

or tares. 



I04 "most beautiful rivf.r. 

In all paths found pitfalls, or quicksand, 

or snares, 
Found fevers in cold airs and fevers in 

heats, 
Found poisons in acids and poisons in 

sweets ! 
Found scarcely a gold grain, found little 

but dross, 
Found life full of struggle, disaster and 

loss ! 



O, tell me, bright river, O, hear the com- 
plaint 

That tortures the ages and notes their 
attaint. 

That gives them no day-dawn, but deep- 
ens their gloom, 

O, tell me, bright river, the cause of the 
doom ! 

What is it that burdens and worries in 
spite 



**MOST BEAUTIFUL RIVER. 105 

Of solace of song of the rivers that quite 
Would antidote seem in their charm of 

delight 
For deepest and harshest and darkest of 

ban 
That fiends could invent- for the torture 

of man? 
And singest thou, river, 'tis Sin that has 

done 
The mischief, the havoc, wrought under 

the sun? 
Then tell me, bright river, for rivers 

must know 
That sing of the unseen as onward they 

flow, 
O, tell me wdiy Sin and its consequent 

woe — 
Why Sin after rightness and woe after 

bliss? 
O, why, after Eden, misfortune like 

this. 
That worries and saddens the men of the 

earth 



;o6 "most beautiful rivfr." 

And burns out its best fields to deserts of 

dearth? 
Since blessing beforehand but deepens 

the curse, 
Since sweet before bitter makes bitter 

the worse, 
O, tell me, bright river, O, tell me, I 

pray, 
If night was to be, O, why was there day? 
O, tell me, bright waters, if tell me ye 

can, 
O, why was there Eden as prelude to ban ? 



And sayest thou, river, that evil was 

given 
To teach earth, by contrast, the value of 

heaven? 
To warn man and spur him away from 

the bad. 
And teach him through sadness, the way 

to be glad? 



"MOST BEAUTIFUL RIVER, IO7 

And if it was discipline meant by this 

grief, 
O, why not some angel to teach such 

belief? 
To sing unto earth that the thought in 

all this 
Was only to heighten the chances for 

bliss? 
That, covert in curses, hid blessings were 

given 
To aid in the quest and the climbing for 

heaven? 



And singest thou, river, of One who was 

sent 
To tell what this sadness and mystery 

meant. 
To lead man away from the cause of his 

woes 
And aid him to conquer the ills that 

oppose? 



loS *'MOSr LEAUTIFUL KlVtR." 

The ban had so blinded that only in years 
Could any be won from the eause of their 
tears. 



Yet why this repinini^, O river of song? 
Wrong eannot be righted by naming it 

wrong. 
If problem it onee was why man at the 

first 
Was kept from the reason why he had 

been enrsed. 
At last bv his troubles well visioned is 

he; 
Misfortune has sehoolcd him until he ean 

see 
The reason his day into darkness was 

turned ; 
Disaster hasdiseiplined till he has learned 
That blessing is baneful unless it is 

earned, 
That bitter beforehand but sweetens the 

cup, 



"most beautiful river. 109 

When valiant the brave man drinks 

bitterness up, 
That doubt when well mastered is loyal 

to hope, 
That torture if conquered equips for 

emprise, 
And hell if subjected gives road to the 

skies ! 



Then carol, ye waters, as glad as ye can; 
O, sing of the Eden that was before ban. 
Ere man had been tempted to wander 

away 
Or night came at morning to darken his 

day ; 
Ere thistles outgrew the best blossoms of 

earth 
And rich meads were turned into deserts 

of dearth ! 
And sing, O ye waters, as glad as ye can. 
That those who learn well in the school 

of this ban 



no THE QUEST THAT FAILS. 

Shall somewhere out yonder find Eden 

for man, 
With streams even sweeter than rivers 

that sung 
Entrancing that Eden where music was 

young! 



THE GUEST THAT FAILS. 

OJAVr the angel be at once obeyed 
^ That comes of patience and of 
rest to tell ; 
'Twas discontent that all the trotible made 
When man in ancient days by sinning 
fell. 



Greed making haste goes by full many 
things 
Designed of greatness and of God to 
teach. 



THE QUEST THAT FAILS. HI 

Affrights the sweetest bird for man that 

sings, 
Dashes the cup but once within his 
reach, 
And sends him over desert wilds to stray 
In quest of joy where dark birds grue- 
some chant. 
Or forth for gain impels him far away 
O'er seas that whirlwinds and that 
pirates haunt — 

Impels him on till, watchful o'er his 
track. 
Some never-failing ministrant of 

heaven 
From wretched plight returns the farer 
back 
And prays the skies the wanderer be 
forgiven. 



But then what meagre boon he has, com- 
pared 



112 THE QUEST THAT FAILS. 

Willi that largesse, so beautiful, so 
o^reat, 
Which would have been his own had he 
but dared 
To set at naught the restless fiend and 
wait — 



Forgiven, indeed, and freed from guilt, 
but still 
From wandering weak whose spirit 
should be strong, 
And unto w^oes and wailing w^ont until 
Too sad to sing, who might have lived 



So sad the soul may be that joy were 

death, 
So worn that scarce the care that angels 

give. 
That scarce from heavenly hills the 

bravest breath, 



THF. EVIDENCE. II3 



Can wake the courao^e or the wish to 



& 



live 



O, let the angel be at once obeyed 

That comes of patience and of rest to 
tell, 
Nor heedless cause again the trouble 
made 
Of old by those who discontented fell. 



THE EVIDENCE. 

THAT remains- which blasted Eden, 
That which God did not appoint; 
When there's bitterness at sw^eetness, 
There is something out of joint, — 

Something wrong when greed or hatred 
Snares and slaughters birds that sing, 



114 THE EVIDENCE. 

Murders melody and beauty 

For the pence their feathers bring! 

Birds that cheered the ancient Garden 
Have been up in heaven since then ; 

But it would delight the songsters 
To return to earth again. 

There amid the scenes of glory 

They recall the joys below, 
And they did not fly to heaven 

Until man would have them go — 

Birds that did not harshly chide him. 
Though they knew his going wrong 

But the heart that's gone a-straying 
Hears but discord in a song. 

And, too meek for his ambition, 
Birds of modest note and wine, 

Birds that still had lovely plumage 
And that dearly loved to sing, — 



THE EVIDENCE. II5 

They were driven forth from Eden 
And betook them to the skies, 

Leaving man to seek his fortunes 
And to find — his miseries ! 

Other birds to earth were given 

That have cheered each hill and glen, 

Till, to man in tune, their music 
Would seem Eden back again. 

But, at odds with heaven and wrathful 
At the things that should delight, 

Out of tune with them and charging 
Unto heaven his wretched plight ; 

Out of tune with birds, and angered 
At the joy the robins sing, — 

Out of tune with them, yet greedy 
For the pence their feathers bring — 

In revenge he vents his venom 
On the songsters of the earth, 



Il6 A SONG OF CHENANGO. 

Murders melody and beauty 

For the dust their down is worth ! 



That remains which blasted Eden, 
That which God did not appoint; 

This destruction of the songsters 

Proves there's something out of joint. 



A SONG OF CHENANGO. 

YE angels compounding the essences 
meet 
For flavors and tints for the dews and 
the rains 
To carry to earth that the flowers may be 
sweet 
And the grasses with verdure enliven 
the plains, 



A SONG OF CHENANGO. I (7 

Ye chemists celestial in charge of the air 
And vintage and blooms of the gar- 
dens of heaven, 
Ye alchemists famous in heaven, declare 
If sweeter the blossoms to which ye 
have given 



The study of ages and culture of years, 
If choicer the blooms of the arbors on 
high, 
Than fragrance the vale of Chenango 
that cheers — 
If sweeter the breath of a rose of the 
sky! 



And finer than flavors perfuming its air 
Are notes of the song that Chenango 
is given — 
Nor sweeter than cadence of minstrelsy 
there 



Il8 A SONG OF CHENANGO. 

Is music of hymns of the singers of 
heaven ! 



Bright valley ! what wonder that angels 
along 
Thy hillsides fare joyous, to gaze on 
the stream 
Whose waters entrance with their sweet- 
ness of song 
And seem of the fountains of heaven 
to gleam. 



Or are ye, bright angels, who frequent 
that vale 
And linger so long and so lovingly 
there, 
As sentinels sent, whose watch shall not 
fail 
O'er the peace and the beauty of valley 
so fair? 



A SONG OF CHENANGO. II9 



Nay, angels, why sentinel valley so 
bright? 
What need is that guards to Chenango 
be given? 
Do fiends ever menace the children of 
light, 
Or plan for marauding, some summer, 
in heaven? 



For goodness is ever its own sure de- 
fence — 
The beauty of goodness but seldom 
needs care ; 
What fiend dares Chenango but vanishes 
thence. 
Evicted by light of the loveliness there? 



Yet bolder than fiends are, some human 
might plan, 
Some champion of Use, to desecrate 
here 



I20 A SONG OF CHENANGO. 

The beauty so useful to humanize man 
And venture of forests the country to 
clear ; 

Might plunder the wild flowers until they 
should die, 
And plant all the landscape wilh sign- 
boards of trade ; 
With wires, poles and placards insulting 
the sky 
And setting up marts in the cloisters 
of shade. 

So tarry, ye angels, to sentinel still 

The loveliness blessincr Chenango's 
bright vale ; 
With vigilance guarding the valley until 
The schemes of the spoilers forever 
shall fail ! 



Ye heavens, inspirit the men of the 
earth 



"O 13KAUTIFUL VISION." 121 

With wish and with vision to study 
and prize 
The things that have substance, and 
meaning, and worth. 
The beautiful things of the earth and 
the skies! 



O 



O BEAUTIFUL VISION." 



BEAUTIFUL vision! that Har- 



mony came, 
And sang until Hatred and Anger grew 

tame. 
Forgetting forever their longing for 

blood, 
And learning of Gentleness how to be 



^nod 



And Sloth was converted and longed for 
employ, 



122 "O BEAUTIFUL VISION. ' 

While Envy and Slander forgot to annoy, 
And toilers, contented and singing for 

Were glad of the hardness they had to 

endure, 
That fitted for triumph and made it 

secure ! 
And angels were constant from heaven 

to earth 
With ofarlands for Labor and iewels for 



& 



Worth. 

Proud science, grown humble, endeav- 
ored to learn 

Mechanics from insects and music from 
burn, 

And artisans spurning their much boasted 
skill. 

Saw structure in cobwebs and might in a 
rill I 

Then Greed grew repentant and gave 
up his pelf. 

The warrior, learning to conquer him- 
self, 



*'0 BEAUTIFUL VISION." 123 

Rejoiced in the thought that at last he 
was brave, 

And despots relented and ceased to en- 
slave ; 

While all of the cruel, forsaking their 
trade, 

And honest in tears for the havoc they 
made, 

Sought only to better the world they had 
rent, 

And proved by right living their wish to 
repent. 



Yet, angel of vision, no Harmony can, 

Nor any high excellence native with 
man. 

Ennoble mankind to the goodness like 
this 

That breathes in thy song of the splen- 
dors of bliss ! 

Go heighten thy numbers and sing unto 
earth 



»24 "O HEAUTIFUL VISION." 

The charm of His being, the giow of His 

worth, 
Whose sacrifice only can give unto men 
The fact of the fancy entrancing thy 

ken I 



Thou wonderful One by the prophets 

foretold, 
Thou Christ of the sages and singers of 

old, 
O hasten the dawn of the time without 

tears, 
The blessed, the golden, the beautiful 

years, 
When Doubt shall be banished and all of 

his fears. 
When Love from his exile shall come to 

his throne, 
And Peace shall be regnant and warring 

unknown ; 
When men shall thirst only for waters of 

truth 



"O BEAUTIFUL VISION." I25 

And, drinking, discover the fountain of 

youth, 
And even those destined to sin from their 

birth 
Shall wake unto goodness and sing in the 

earth, 
Where deserts, rejoicing, shall blossom 

and yield 
Abundance to equal the long cultured 

field I 
O hasten. Thou Gracious, the time with- 
out tears, 
The blessed, the golden, the beautiful 

years, 
When every one gladly shall copy Thy 

worth 
And the splendors of bliss shall dawn on 

the earth 1 



THE HEAVENLY MUvSIC. 

THERE is some celestial music 
That the heavens cannot hold, 
And that, thrilling- through the vastness 
From angelic harps of gold, 

Comes to earth to quell the discords 

Of the troubled life below, 
Comes evoking notes of gladness 

From the dissonance of woe, 

Comes to cheer and to enhearten 
And to make the spirit strong, 

And the souls that reverent listen 
Are ennobled by the song. 

For there's tenderness that strenofthens 

In the music from the skies ; 
And the gentleness of greatness 

Animates its harmonies. 



THE HEAVENLY MUSIC. 127 

To the reverent speaks the music 

Of the hymning from above 
In the hope-inspiring accents 

Of the voice of heavenly love. 

Thrills that music with the message 
That a golden dawning nears ; 

Which shall usher in the glory 
Of the blessed thousand years 1 

With abundant harvests springing 
From the wastes of desert dearth 

And with peace among the nations 
Of a brightened, bettered, earth! 

Then shall all men reverent listen 
To the anthem earth is given 

Till, ennobled by the grandeur 
Of the minstrelsy of heaven. 

They shall comprehend the meaning 
Of the music from the skies, 

And aspire to live in keeping 
With celestial harmonies. 



Mr:ssA(;i':s of tiii- wati-rs. 
I. 

Tll\' valleys how lovely, iby nioun- 
lains how stroiiL^-, 
() X^M'lhlaiul, how chariniiiL^ thy rivers of 

song I 
No finer Ihroug-h stoned lands sin<^eth 

the tide 
Of Tiber, or Danube, or Severn, or 

Clyde; 
No briirhter to Seotehnien the burns 

whieh they know 
That sweet to Loeh Katrine throu'^h 

heather bloom How; 
No gladder to Lomond whirl joyous away 
The streamlets through dingles with hazel 

bloom gay, 
Nor sweeter to Switzers sing brooks to 

Lucerne 



MESSAGES OF 'JHE WATERS. I29 

Than waters whose music New England- 
ers learn. 

No sweeter the far wave than waters that 

sing- 
Where (rreyhx^k of hilltops is grandly 
the king. 

Than whirl from Wahconah the waters 
awav, 

That bright over gravel of g(^ld and of 
gray. 

Through Dalton dales dimple, and spar- 
kle and play, 

Than brooks from Katahdin, tlian others 
that How 

Where airs from Monadnock inspire 
them to i];o — 

Than sing the bright thousands of brook- 
lets along 

Entrancing the whole of New luigland 
with song I 

Or, if streamlet is sought of sorrow to 
tell, 



130 MESSAGES OF THE WAIKKS 

What brook is more plaintive in old 

country dell 
Than waters from Monument ^lountain 

that purl, 
Lamenting- the fate of the Indian girl 
Who loved where she mio-ht not, and 

thought she must die. 
And plunged in despair from a precipice 

high. 
But sorrow chimes not with the note of 

your voice, 
O waters of Northland, that ever rejoice, 
And even when warning that danger is 

near 
Intone the monitions to cadence of cheer. 



Ye brooks of New England that carol 

like this, 
O warble forever to Northland your bliss ! 
And ye who admire thein, O leave them 

to run, 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. I31 

And wimple, and sparkle, and sing in 

the sun, 
Unchained to carved channels that dul- 
lards have made, 
In worship of Use and the tyrant of 

Trade ! 
O leave them that faring unfettered 

along. 
They babble their beautiful blessing of 

song I 
But more than the music or glance of 

the wave 
O'er which every lover of beauty may 

rave , 
While men of each land of their home 

rivers boast 
O'er waters enchanting the foreigner's 

coast, 
'Tis the truth of their numbers that 

giveth the worth 
To musical waters that gladden the earth. 

Go, zephyrs of heaven, and fleet ye afar 



132 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

By light of morn lustre and gleaming of 

star, 
And tell in the city, and desert, and dell. 
To all who in cot or in palace may dwell, 
Or tent on the plains, or anywhere live, 
What calm and what rapture the river 

songs give — 
The strength for brave doing, the power 

to endure. 
The vision to see and the faith to secure 
The blessings that nature delights to 

confer 
On those who in loyalty seek them of her. 
And mortal, whatever the cadences be 
Of rivulet, lake wave, or surge of the sea, 
'Tis the spirit of God speaks through 

them to thee. 



Who often discovers that man is untrue, 
May think that the weaves will be false to 

him, too. 
Yet faithful forever the voice of the tide ! 



MtSSAGES OF THE WATERS. 1 33 

And, chant they to warn thee, or hearten, 

or guide, 
Believe in the waters — a brook never 

lied ! ■ 

Or purling as soft as the peace of the sky, 
Or singing as grand as the harpers on 

high, 
It giveth forever the essence of truth 
That solaces age and sanctifies youth, 
And, warbled in valley or prattled in 

glen, 
Is simple as childhood yet equal to men — 
'I'ruth sweet as the roses that blossom in 

heaven. 
Truth hither for mortals to rivulets given, 
And sung in the sun time and star time, 

to give 
High hint and good helping sublimely to 

live ! 
What rashness of pride that ventures to 

spurn, 
What wisdom of reverence that listens to 

learn, 



134 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

The truth to be heard in the song of the 

burn. 
Sweet pleading with Power to be true 

and be mild 
As brook is, or bird is, or Christ, or a 

child, 
It telleth the way to the destinies grand 
As fancy can paint or wish to command. 
Whatever thy talent, what work doth 

engage. 
And living wherever, in whatever age, 
And however many thy years on the 

earth. 
The rivulet's voice will still have its 

worth. 
And when shall appear the swift coming 

day 
When thou from this province must 

journey away 
To country, wherever that country may 

be. 
Reached over what mountain and over 

what sea, 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 135 

Where thou shalt find much that is 

strange unto thee, 
How sweet, when departing, to look on 

the wave 
That joy to the days of thine earthly life 

gave ! 
And 01 what a rapture 'twill add to thy 

heaven, 
If there, in that country, like music be 

given, 
If there, to enchant thee, shall carol and 

gleam 
The waters with sparkle and song like the 

stream 
Enchanting the days of thy sojourning 

here 
With song that is wisdom and song that 

is cheer I 



Thy valleys how lovely, thy mountains 
how strong I 



136 MESSAGES OF THE WATKKS, 

O Northland! how charming thy rivers 

of song ! 
Bright waters, that winding from Wind- 
sor away, 
Swift purling o'er gravel of gold and of 

gray, 
Through Dalton dales dimple, and wim- 
ple, and play, 
As waters in elfinland singing to fay. 
The fairies entrancing as rivulets may, 
And rivulets will, so fairy folks say. 
With witcheries weird of the gambolings 

And cadences fine and melod"es sweet, 
And fit where elite of the fairy folk meet, 
With honors the princes of elfland to 

greet, 
Ye waves from Wahconah through thick- 
ets that flow, 
And charm to their sweetness the wild 

flowers that grow — 
What numbers, bright waters, your 
music can tell, 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 137 

Thus witching through wildn ess and dul- 
cet in dell I 

Sweet waters! bright waters, that charm- 
in o:ly sincr 

Of Dalton, the jewel of Berkshire the 
kingl 



Ye waters, that winding from Windsor 

away, 
Through Dalton dales dimple, and wim- 
ple and say 
As, bright over gravel of gold and of 

gray. 
Ye chant in higli music while charmingly 

gay— 
"Thou listening entranced o'er the 

musical wave, 
To honor the music, O mortal, be brave; 
Be more than the mood that comes of 

mere charm ; 
The tracement of sweetness is cause for 

alarm — " 



13S MFSSAGES OF THE WATERS 

Ye waters inspiring- the valiant until, 
Grown godlike from heeding the song of 

a rill, 
They honor in action the truth of the 

song 
That sparkles and warbles their life ways 

along — 
What seer hath the vision, ye waves, to 

divine 
The wealth of your wisdom, ye waters 

benign! 



Ye brooks from Katahdin and streamlets 

that flow 
Where airs from Monadnock inspire them 

to go; 
Ye waters that sing- in Otsego and shine 
Reflecting the love of the spirit benign ; 
Ye brooks to Itasca that sing through the 

plains, 
Entrancing the vastness with charm of 

your strains ; 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. I S9 

Ye waters the depths of wild canyons 

that dare, 
And calmly the truth to the mountains 

declare — 
Wherever all over the Northland ye 

sing, 
From heaven, bright waters, your music 

ye bring ! 



Ye waters of Northland, that carol like 

this, 
O warble forever to Northland your 

bliss ! 
And waft ye, fleet zephyrs, to every 

strand 
This music of gladness, this joy of our 

land I 
And, say, O ye zephyrs, who chant with 

the tide 
Of Tiber, or Danube, or Severn, or Clyde, 
And waves of the musical waters that 

pour 



140 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

Enchantment to every inland and shore. 
And thus have been singing through all 

of the years, 
Enhancement of gladness and comfort of 

tears — 
Say, zephyrs, wherever your courses ye 

wing, 
If brighter than waters in Northland that 

sing, 
If brighter ye find a w^ave in the world. 
If lovelier the waters in Eden that 

purled ! 



II. 



WHERE Mountain Monadnock, 
majestic in might 
And infinite leisure, rose grand in his 

height, 
And angels came heralds from heaven 
to bring 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. \4^ 

The best of May mornings to gladden the 



sprm 



And waters from beechen grove sparkled 

whose wave 
That charm to the hours of the bright 

morning gave 
Which wakens the birds to their cheeriest 

tune 
And Mayfields to green to the brightness 

of June — 
There, forth from the home of her hum- 
ble life sweet, 
A maiden went singing the morning to 

greet, 
And, tranced by the resonant waters that 

sang 
Till echoing distances joyfully rang. 
She waited in wonder and awe at the 

song 
The waters were warbling that sparkled 

along, 
While Mountain Monadnock, rejoicing 
in might, 



142 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

From foothills to summit beamed forth 
his delight. 

And rapt o'er the scene of that morning- 

of May 
The maiden entranced heard the waters 

to say : 
"Thy motto be duty, thy jewel be truth ; 
And wisdom prize ever as prizing in 

youth ; 
And love, which to many but sorrow 

doth bring, 
Shall be thy good angel to cheer thee ta 

sing 
Beyond the high music of joyfulest stream 
That ever charmed poet to tunefulest 

theme. 



''Go ask of thy mother what message I 
said 

When hither her thoughtfulest saunter- 
ing led, 



MESSAGES OF THE VVATERS. 1 45, 

And breathing the hope of a treasure to 
be, 

She went and months later came speak- 
ing of thee, 

With joy and the graces of motherhood 
came. 

Discoursing of thee and telling thy name. 

Bright seasons have blossomed and blos- 
somed again, 

And Cometh the maiden where matron 
came then. 

Tiiat message, well heeded by matron, I 
read 

In traits of the maiden, who surely will 
heed 

The counsel, when matron shall tenderly 
tell 

The message and ask her to honor it 
well." 

The summers that came and the summers 

that went 
To girlhood the graces of womanhood 

lent: 



144 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

And lovincrly loitering- there by the 

stream, 
Entranced o'er tlie ripple, and dimple, 

and gleam. 
Two whispered the message the matron 

had told, 
The words that she heard of the river of 

old. 
And, each ripple a song and each dimple 

a gem, 
The waters repeated the message to 

them — 
That kindness of each to the other 

would give 
To offspring best traits of each other and 

live 
In habitudes high of childhood, to tell 
Their wooing was wisdom, their mating 

was well. 
Prenatal inclining to goodness, thus 

given ! 
Bestowing, ere breath, the impulse for 

heaven ! 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 145 

And later with infancy smiling they 

came ; 
And followed another who listened to 

name 
The father and mother breathed forth in 

their joy 
And raised, at their bidding, to brow of 

a boy 
Bright drops of the rivulet's musical 

wave, 
To honor the message those waters once 

gave. 
Then, looking in faith to the blue of the 

sky, 
Each reverently prayed to the Gracious 

on high ; 
And the birds and the zephyrs united in 

song 
With voice of the waters that caroled 

along — 
A song that was prayer for and thanks 
for the joy 



146 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

Prefigured in crystal drops, there, for 

the boy ; 
And Mountain Monadnock, beholding the 

rite. 
In sweetness and majesty glowed with 

delight. 



III. 



WHERE singing to mountains its 
resonant song 
A brook from a beechen grove caroled 

along, 
In chime with the robins, reflecting their 

bowers. 
Inspiring the sunbeams to sweeten the 
flowers, 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. I47 

And rippling in time of the march of the 

hours 
Of a morning the best that the skies 

could attune 
And send from Elysium to gladden a 

June- 
There fresh from the meads where the 

buttercups grew, 
There free as the birds from the bloom- 
fields that flew, 
There joyously singing child songs that 

he knew, 
There charming as nature, and artless 

and true, 
There bright on the morn of that June 

day of joy, 
There, blithe with the breath of his 

blisses, a boy, 
Impelled by the pulses prophetic of man. 
In step with the waves of the rivulet ran. 
Then, halting in rapture, delighted to 

scan 



148 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

The waves of the beautiful streamlet 

that sang 
Until with the carol the distances rang, 
He tarried, entranced and held in high 

mood. 
To muse on the son 2^ of the musical flood ! 



And this was the song that the rivulet 
sung 

With its liquid lip and its silver tongue : 

*'In the freedom of childhood, O child- 
hood, rejoice; 

Here's health to thy being and charm to 
thy voice I 

The simple things love thou, as loving 
them now ; 

The angels love these, and ever love 
thou. 

Wouldst be like the eagle? the rather the 
dove be. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 149 

The lilies, the robins, the blue sky above 

thee — 
Love these and be like them and angels 

will love thee, 
While birds and the zephyrs shall make 

it their choice 
To copy in carols the charm of thy voice. 



'Tf wisdom be thine and if virtue attend 
thee 

The blessings of heaven the Gracious will 
send thee, 

Commanding the best of His host to de- 
fend thee. 

Bright songsters entrancing their high 
songs to sing thee, 

Swift argosies gems from the far isles to 
bring thee, 

And airs the rare odors of east clime to 
wing thee. 



150 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

O pure as the breath of the flowers of the 

wildwood, 
Forever be true to the dreams of thy 

childhood ! 
And angels and good men shall ever 

rejoice 
In the health of thy being and charm of 

thy voice." 



And this was the song that the rivulet 

sung 
With its liquid lip and its silver tongue. 
And mountains responsive the cadences 

gave 
To zephyrs that, charmed with the song 

of the wave, 
The melodies far through the distances 

told 
To angels who came with their tuneful- 

est gold, 
The angels who listen attentive in heaven 
For singing to mortals by rivulets given. 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 151 

And catching the numbers they hasten 

where gleam 
The resonant waves of the musical stream, 
And study its music, to heighten the worth 
Of songs they have learned in the land 

of their birth. 
And, trying the measures in chime with 

the lay 
The robins are singing in praise of the 

day, 
They chant the blent music for cheer 

unto men 
And soar away singing to heaven again. 

Of excellent birth was the boy by the 
wave 

That joy to the hours of the June morn- 
ing gave. 

Again there he listened, and this was 
the song 

The waters were chanting that sparkled 
along : 



152 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 

"Who love thee will tell thee of words 

that I said 
When hither good angels their saunter- 
ing led, 
And tell thee, bright one of the fortunate 

birth, 
What greatly shall heighten thy joy and 

thy worth 
And make thy good fortune a blessing to 

earth — 
A story they learned from pages they 

read 
Till deep of its meaning their spirits had 

fed, 
His story whose sacrifice charms away 

fears, 
And brightens the glory of all of the 

years!" 



"That story, ye waters, my father has 
told 



MESSAGES OF THE WATERS. 153 

And bade me to prize it more precious 

than gold — 
The sheep and the shepherds at night on 

the plains, 
The angels high chanting their heavenly 

strains, 
The child in the manger, the men from 

afar, 
And that beautiful, beautiful, wonderful 

star!" 



"O pure as the breath of the flowers of 

the wildwood, 
Love ever the idyl that came to thy 

childhood ! 
And cherish the dreaming it gave unto 

thee. 
For fancies of childhood, though fancies 

they be, 
Have truth from that country away over 

sea. 



154 MESSAGES OF THE WATERS 

Bright dreams of pure childhood, ideals 

from heaven ! 
The brightest of blessings that mortals 

are given ! 
O pure as the breath of the flowers of the 

wild wood, 
Keep sacred the idyl that came to thy 

childhood. 
High born as thou art, thine heritage 

prize, 
As steward of blessings bestowed from 

the skies, 
O given from heaven that excellent worth, 
The instincts and temper of fortunate 

birth, 
Not vain of thy goodness, help those who 

have less, 
And be thine ambition to live but to bless ; 
Life up the downfallen and lead to that 

One 
Who knoweth how sadly some lives are 

begun, 



MESSAGES OF THE WAl EKS. 155 

Who pities their erring and knoweth 

each frame 
And points from their woes to the power 

of His name." 

The words of the brook to the boy by 

the wave 
Awake to the wisdom its resonance gave 
AVere heard and remembered by angels 

on high 
And chanted to sweeten the songs of the 

sky ! 
There, greeting the glad one whose June 

day of joy 
Was bright with the hope and the bliss 

of a boy, 
There, sweet in the dawn of some June 

day of heaven. 
Shall angels enchant him with canticles 

given 
Where singing to mountains its resonant 

song 
A brook from a breechen grove caroled 

along ! 



w 



THE EQUAL LOT. 



ITH equal hand, impartial Heaven 
Bestows on all, the blessings- 
given 

To cheer the earth. 



If birds that bless the morns of spring 
Alone at regal courts would sing. 
We might complain. 



But everywhere, from hill to shore, 
The joyous warblers artless pour 
Their songs for all. 



As grateful thine anemones 
And all the perfumed potencies 
Thy rose exhales 



THE EQUAL LOT. I57 



As odors they of kingly kind 
Empurpled in a palace, find 
The flowers to yield 



That grow by royal gardener dressed, 
And bloom with smiles of princess 
blessed, 
On sacred days. 

Nor sweeter sound than you or I, 
Hears king or Croesus, walking by 
The purling brook ; 



Nor, navied in their gilded boats, 
Than we embarked in common floats, 
More restful plash 

Of wave ; nor surer they to ride 
In safety to the haven side 
Of waters sailed. 



158 THE EQUAL LOT. 

Nor king than we has sweeter hymn 
Of Zephyr: nor doth Sunset limn 
Diviner west 



For king, with hues from heavenly fount 
Nor nearer is the royal count 
Of stars than thine 



To His who outlined nature's plan 
And reared the astral arch, to span 
The universe ! 



AMONG THE TREES. 



w 



HERE nature reigns distinctions 
fade 

That pride may bring to grove and glade. 
To flaunt them there. 



Rank has no sway at nature's court, 
And fame is there of small import, 
And pelf is scorned. 



Impartially, when vernal breath 
Proclaims the winter's reign of death 
Is at its end, 



The maple buds portend the June, 
Whose leaves shall cool the torrid noon 
Of summer time. 



l6o AMONG THE TREES. 

To thee as kindly welcome wave 
The elms as unto prince they gave 
Who fared that way. 



And wild and tender harmony 
The pensive pines address to thee 
As tinto all, 



And breathe balsamic airs of health, 
Uncaring for their rank and wealth 
Who seek the boon. 



The quiet beauty of the beech 
To thee, as unto all, will teach. 
If thou wilt learn. 



The loveliness of real worth. 
Whatever station in the earth 
The worthy have. 



AMONG THE TREES l6l 

To thee as grand the oaks that hold 
Discourse with crags of mountain bold, 
Anent the storms, 



As unto royalty they seem ; 
And for thine eyes as brightly gleam 
The autumn woods 



As for the monarch who desires 
To imitate their gorgeous fires 
On robes he wears, 



But finds that futile is the sleight 
Of kings to deck themselves as bright 
As nature shines! 



Contrasting with the snowy lands, 
As sombre-hued the hemlock stands 
To symbolize 



I 62 AMONG THE JREES. 

Thy grief, as though the dark, cold green. 
Sighing, bemoaned with northland queen, 
Her consort dead. 



And when, again, the trees, in bloom. 
Dispel the thoughts of death and doom, 
And hope inspire, 



Thou canst the graceful tasseling 
That decks the birchen boughs of spring 
As well enjoy 



Uncrowned, untitled and unknown. 
As though instated on a throne 
Of kingly power. 



THE LESSON OF THE LILIES, 



N 



ATURE rebukes presumptuous men. 
And yet invites the constant ken 
Of reverent souls. 



And still the words the Master saith. 
Who came of old from Nazareth, 
Nature repeats : 



Consider thou the lilies well, 
O man, who thinkest thou canst tell 
Their coloring, 



And canst the processes divine 
Wherein the primal hues combine 
That beauty give, 



164 THE LESSON OF THE LlLIbS. 

And tell the fragrances that meet 
To make those rarest odors sweet 
That lilies shed. 



Consider thou the lilies well, 
Oman, who thinkest thou canst tell 
What lilies are — 



Perfection of the alchemies 
Wherein the chemists of the skies 
Have wrought their best ! 



And lilies not alone meant He 
Who taught, on hills of Galilee, 
Their loveliness. 



But all the flowers that decked the field 
For Him did sweetest pleasure yield. 
And theme for thought. 



THE LESSON OF THE LILIES 1 65 

And, eloquent above thy speech, 
The flowers will still their ethics teach, 
O man of earth, 



As when, to prove His doctrine true, 
In Palestine, the Teacher drew 
From nature's store. 



And, m.ortal, thou canst ever find, 
If well instructed is thy mind 
By heavenly power, 



Such high renewal of thy might 
Such inspiration and delight. 
And rest and peace, 



In thinkincr on the works of God, 
From tiny twig and velvet sod 
To mountain peak, 



l66 THE BRIGHT BELIEF. 

As thou in thine ambitious schemes, 
Fulfilled unto thy brightest dreams, 
Canst never find ! 



THE P^RIGHT BELIEF. 

IF, sore discouraged and distressed, 
With sorrows and with cares op- 
pressed, 
And sins confessed, and unconfessed, 
And very ill, 

The heart were struggling for relief. 
And found no succor from its grief, 
In buoyant trust and bright belief, — 
How sad the earth ! 

But rules reverse of these obtain, 
Nor mortal suffered yet in vain, 
A trivial, nor the largest, pain, 
Nor ever will. 



THE BRIGHT BELIKF. 167 

vSo let the troubled take new heart, 
Learn well of suffering the art, 
Nor shun to share a generous part 
In life's good griefs! 

For none hath God the tender care 
lie ever shows for those who bear 
Of life's worst woes abundant share, 
Enduring well. 

O ! ever blessed bright belief ! 
That joy which cometh after grief, 
Is sweetest joy, and is not brief, 
Like other joys! 

Inspiring, grand, and true, the thought, 
That bliss by bitter trials bought. 
Is nearer unto heaven than aught 
On earth beside. 

And there, beyond thine earthly ban, 
The wisdom of His rounded plan 
Who ordereth the ways of man 
Shall be made plain ; 



l68 "GOOD-BYE, SWEET STARS.' 

And thou shalt know thy Father spoke, 
When fates thy noblest planning broke 
And gave to thee a cross and yoke- 
That prove thy crown ! 



"GOOD-BYE, SWEET STARS. 

SWEET stars, what high delight 
Is vigil in the night 
Your lustre maketh bright. 
But now a hand unbars 
The morn — good-bye, sweet stars. 
Good-bye— nay, linger still ; 
Shed ye your radiance till 
Once more I drink your glow ; 
Then stars, ye sweet stars, go, 
If go, sweet stars, ye must. 
And, bright, sweet stars, I trust 
Your vows to come again ; 
And then, dear stars, and then ! 



**GOOD-BYE, SWEET STARS.'' 169 

But now a hand unbars 

The morn — good-bye, sweet stars'. 

Yet, stay, for stars are given 

To ken the truths of heaven — 

O stay, and teach that good, 

That high beatitude, 

The best of all belief. 

That joy succeeds to grief. 

O best of all good pain — 

Possession come from loss, 

And crown that follows cross! 

Despair! endeavor, hope! 

The slough — the heavenly cope ! 



When all the skies are dark, 
And there's no stellar spark 
To lieht the firmament 
With glow of Heaven's intent 
Of blessing unto man. 
Or even hint her plan — 



lyo "good-bye, sweet stars 

The spirit can discern 
Your radiant fervors burn, 
In proof that, still, above 
Abides Eternal Love. 



And, now, sweet stars, a hand. 

As by magician's wand. 

The gates of morn unbars! 

Good-bye, sweet stars, sweet stars I 

Ye go, and I may rest, 

With dreamless slumber blest, 

A few brief hours of morn. 

And then, where flowers adorn 

The meadows and the hills, 

I'll join the birds and rills, 

To sing, ye stars, your praise — 

Accept, ye, then, the lays. 

For ye can hear, I ween, 

And see, when all unseen 

And all unheard — when day 

Hath sent ye far away. 



"good-bye, sweet stars." 171 

And when again ye shine, 
Teach me the hand divine 
That now the morn unbars — 
Good-bye, sweet stars, sweet stars! 



SEP 3 1901 



